


"I hate you" hits differently for us

by Alter_E



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Developing Relationship, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, It's just Kevin being a little shit, Just a sprinkle of Angst on top for flavour, M/M, Mutual Pining, No beta we die like the characterisation, Not enemies per se, out of character? maybe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:57:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22468630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alter_E/pseuds/Alter_E
Summary: Looking back, Daniel isn’t very sure why they have gotten off on the wrong foot....Well, that’s a lie, he does.(Or: A developing relationship that starts with Kevin being a little shit and ends with Kevin also being a little shit)
Relationships: Daniel Condren/Kevin O'Reilly
Comments: 22
Kudos: 55





	1. Enemies

**Author's Note:**

> This place needs an enemies to friends to lovers fic, alright? I know there are already some in the working but here is my take on it! 
> 
> The RPF Disclaimer™: Yes, this is fanfic for these two. No, don't spread this around to anyone who doesn't ask to read this, doesn't want to read this, and definitely don't notify Kevin and Daniel of this. Keep it in the ao3 bubble dude.
> 
> Hey! This goes out for all of the people who still spam this in RT's chat: Sucks to be both a bitch ass and an illiterate

Looking back, Daniel isn’t very sure why they have gotten off on the wrong foot. Well, that’s a lie, he does. It’s too early in the morning, as in it’s 1 am early in the morning, and he’s stuck in a bar. It’s a friend’s party that he got dragged to, and Daniel was enjoying himself, really. 

But then some asshole spills their drink onto him, and now he’s stuck in the toilet, using the paper there to try and save his shirt. It reeks of alcohol now, and it’s one of his favourite shirts too. Granted, it’s just a nice solid white button-up, but still. Daniel is, to recap, rather pissed.

Maybe that’s why when a stranger walks in the bathroom with a cheerful smile, he wants to bite the guy’s head off. He’s not usually aggressive, but he also doesn’t usually have some weird bright cocktails they have here or got said cocktail spilt on his shirt. 

“You need help with that?” He asks in a smooth voice, a hint of an accent and zero slurs covering it up. Which, is weird, seeing how it is 1 am in the club. But he looks rather put together, wearing a bright yellow sweater that offends his eyes at the moment, and Daniel frowns. 

“I can deal with it myself,” Daniel says back, shooting the guy a glare and he raises his hands in the calm-down-dude-jeez motion that ticks him up even more. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Stranger says, turning back to the mirror. Daniel watches as he splashes some water on his face, a hand going through the brown hair and getting it back into some kind of order. “Just, you seem to be struggling there?”

He is struggling, the paper tower they have here is shit, the cocktail has seeped through at this point and he feels gross. “Fuck off.”

“Alright, no need to swear,” He says, shrugging and turning off the water. It’s right there that Daniel realises if it weren’t for the background noise of water flowing and hitting the sink, they are in relative silence. If he strains his ears, he can still hear the music on the dance floor, but the bathroom here is strangely soundproof.

And Stranger is not making a move to get out of the bathroom. No, he has leaned on the wall with his phone out, the digital light illuminating his face. “Aren’t you going to go?”

“Am I suppose to?” Stranger asks back, looking up from his phone to stare at Daniel. There’s a ghost of a smile there like he knows that he’s ticking Daniel off, and enjoying every second of it. “I can leave you to your thing if you want to?”

He smiles back, strained. His grip on the towel tightened. “It’s fine, really,” He replies because there’s a thing that’s going on now. He’s not sure what, but he knows he’s not going to lose. Daniel’s competitive by nature, and there’s no way he will let this dude win. “Just wondering why you’re not out there enjoying yourself.”

“It’s getting too loud for my taste,” Stranger answers him, and they lock eyes for another second before he turns back to his phone, his thumb scrolling. He gets back to trying to dry his shirt, to no avail, and Daniel swears quietly under his breath.

Apparently, it’s not quite quiet enough for Stranger to not notice, because he’s looking up again with an amused look at Daniel, and there’s something in those blue eyes. Again, he can’t place a finger on it, but it’s enough to make him more agitated. “What now?”

“Are you sure you don’t need my-”

“Yes, I’m fucking sure!”

“-help?”

They’re in another staring contest, and Daniel grits his teeth. The music outside changes into something clearly softer, and neither of them looks away. The stranger blinks, lazily and content, and then he chuckles. It’s a rather nice chuckle, a shame it has to come from someone with such a punchable face. 

Then the guy throws him a smile that seems to be polite to any onlookers, but Daniel knows there’s an edge of mockery in it, pockets his phone and walks away without sparing him a second glance. 

His eyes follow the thin figure until the door swing closes, and he waits for another second to pass before throwing the paper angrily in the bin and swears loudly.

* * *

It’s 2 more weeks after the party that he meets the guy again, at a nicer place and a more reasonable time. Namely, at a Starbuck near him, because he’s craving some caramel macchiato or maybe something with more caffeine. He still has the stream from Sunday to finish editing, and it’s a longer one than usual too. 

He places his order and waits around until the barista calls out for his drink, and Daniel walks over to the counter to grab it. Or he was going to grab it if it wasn’t for another hand reaching over him and snatching the cup up. There’s a split second where his brain stops working, and then he turns around to see the fucker from the club that night again. 

“Uh- excuse me-“ He starts, and stranger looks down at him with a questioning look and a straw in his mouth. “That’s my drink-“

“This is a caramel macchiato, right?”

“Yeah, that’s-“

“Then yeah, you got that wrong,” he says, and then just to irritate Daniel because the guy damn well knows what he’s doing, he takes a sip of the drink. 

He chuckles awkwardly. “I’m sure I ordered that.”

Stranger gives him another look, and then holds out the drink to look at it. “Your name doesn’t happen to be Kevin, right? Cause if we have the same order and then the same name then that’s a bit weird.”

“Kevin-?” 

Strang- Kevin shrugs, taking another sip just as the barista slides another cup down. “One caramel macchiato?”

Daniel grabs that instead, reluctantly and then get himself a straw too. “Yeah, ok- that’s- I’m sorry…” 

Kevin chuckles, still with that mocking air from the club. “Have a nice day Daniel,” he says, and then walks out of the place and leaving him standing there looking like a dumbass again. This is beginning to become a pattern, one that he doesn’t like at all.

He takes a sip of his drink, the sweet calming him down a bit. And then he looks at his drink, and see the name Kevin scrawled quickly in black marker there, and frowns harder.

He hasn’t told Kevin his name.

The little shit.

* * *

Their third meeting is at Twitch, where Wilbur has called up his friend after the con is done for a party. He agrees to go, of course, who wouldn’t pass up the chance to do that? And so Daniel puts on his nice outing clothes and walks over to the pub Wilbur told him to be.

It’s a nice place, with a certain cosy atmosphere and it’s not so packed. He recognised many people there, fellow Youtubers and streamers, and he talks with them for a bit before his eyes found Will in the crowd, talking to someone.

Daniel walks over there instead, before pausing when he actually sees who Will is talking to- why the fuck is Kevin here?

Kevin’s saying something, complete with hands gestures and Will laughs like it’s the funniest thing he has ever heard. And then Will looks up at him, and his smiles widen further. 

“Dan!” Will says, and Daniel can already tell that he has had a bit too much to drink. “I’m so glad you could make it!”

“Same,” He grits out, looking at Kevin who smiles back. “How are you doing?”

“Oh, Kevin and I were just talking-“ Will answers, paused and then continues: “have you met Kevin, Dan?”

“We meet a few times here and there,” Kevin says before he can answer, and he walks over until he’s standing next to Daniel, and to his shock, swings his arm around him and pulls him into a side-hug. “Always a delight to talk to him, really.”

Will grins, clearly happy that they know each other. “Well, I’ll leave you two gents to catch up then.”

Please don’t, Daniel wants to say. Instead, he smiles back, and Kevin beams. His hand still hasn’t left Daniel’s shoulder, and he dodges out of the hug before he actually punches Kevin or something along that line. He waits until Will is well out of distance, before turning back to glare at Kevin. “What are you doing here?”

“Will invited me, and hey, I can’t say no to a good party,” Kevin answers and then takes a swig of the bottle in his hand. “I didn’t know that you two are friend though.”

“Same could be said about you, ugh,” he mutters. “I just want a nice evening, and then you have to be here-“

“Ouch,” Kevin says, putting a hand across his chest like he’s actually wounded by Daniel’s word. Oh, how he wishes. “What did I do?”

“Do I have to remind you of Starbuck?”

“It’s a harmless joke, come on. You have to admit, I got you.” 

“What if I’m lactose intolerance and my drink was different than your huh?” He shot back, and Kevin’s grin widens. 

“I was right behind you when you ordered,” He points out, patting Daniel on the back like how he would complement a kid for trying at a very simple task. “Nice taste though, a bit too sweet but it’s nice.”

“No one actually asked you to do that, you only have yourself to blame,” Daniel says back, “And you certainly deserve it.”

“Jesus Christ then,” Kevin says. “How about a drink as an apology?”

“You’re going to have to try harder than that.”

Kevin looks at him, and there’s a glint of something in those blue eyes that catches the warm light of the bar. In the club, it was too dark and during the little Starbuck trip, he was too pissed to take a proper look at Kevin. But now that he lets himself to look, there’s that unspoken thing again, a challenge in Kevin’s eyes that sparks something in him too, and Daniel huffs. 

“Well, we all have to start somewhere,” Kevin says, sounding so sure of himself that he will win in the end. “A whiskey could never hurt.”

He turns around and walks off back to the bar without giving Kevin an answer, and it feels so damn satisfying that he can kind of get why Kevin does that too.

* * *

He asks Will about Kevin later, and Will sends him a link to Kevin’s YouTube channel. He wonders why he has never heard of him, they definitely run in the same circle or at least their content is similar enough that Youtube must have recommended it at some point. 

The guy’s actually funny though, Daniel has to give him that. He was just going to watch a video to get a feel of him, but then one turns into the whole channel and an evening that’s supposed to be spent editing turned into binge-watching Kevin’s videos. He can see where that little shit vibe comes from now, starting another RP video and laughing as Kevin bugs the fuck out of the other players in a rather likeable way. He makes friends in those servers so easy too, some natural charisma that Kevin just has.

It’s not like, full-on charismatic though. It’s a little awkward, but genuine and he can tell that Kevin’s actually having fun playing these PS2 games and somehow got him onto the fun too. Daniel hates it.

**Will:** oh, and you know the “how to annoy” series?

**Will:** back in the Machinima days?

**You:** who doesn’t?

**Will:** that’s Kevin too

He groans. The guy just also have to be one of his favourite content creators too, someone who inspires him quite a bit. He hates it so much.

**You:** rly?!

**Will:** yeah, wild right?

**You:** ugh

**Will:** what’s up?

**You:** he’s such a little shit

**Will:** that’s kind of his brand lol 

**Will:** but he’s a lovable boy irl tho

**You:** please don’t ever describe him like that in this good dm ever again

**You:** anyway

**You:** need to get back to editing

**You:** ttyl 

He closes Twitter, throwing the phone on his bed and pulls up Premiere on his computer. Daniel has already wasted too much time on Kevin today already. 


	2. to friends

“@RTGameCrowd do a collab with @Callmekevin1- again?” Daniel groans, scrolling through the many many tweets with Kevin and him tagged in, asking for a collaboration. Jesus fuck, he doesn’t know these many people watch both of them, and apparently, the joke that he and Kevin are the same person is all over the place now.

As if he can be the same person as someone like Kevin. His audience has no faith in him at all, or they haven’t met the fucker. 

Still, it’s obviously really in demand. He looks at Kevin’s twitter, the little “Start a new message” staring back at him mockingly, daring him to make the first move. Daniel sighs.

**Hey.**

He does not stress over Kevin’s replies, but when his phone lets out a little ding, Daniel all but dive for it and swipe the notification opens. 

**Hey there friend**

**How’s it going?**

**Is that how you greet everyone?**

**Nah**

**Saving this just for you.**

Daniel grits his teeth. Of course, Kevin still has to be a little bitch on twitter too- but, ok. Kevin’s a rather cool dude, all shit talking aside, he can do this. 

**I’m fine**

**Hbu?**

**Just finished recording**

**Perfect timing Daniel**

**It’s just Dan or RT**

**Dan then**

**If I didn’t know better I’d say you’re stalking me lol**

**As if**

**Sure sure**

**Anyway**

**What’s actually up?**

**People are pushing me into talking to you so here we are**

**People?**

**Fans, mostly**

**They’re comparing you to me**

**You mean the opposite way**

**Far as I know I’m older than you 🤠**

**Ok boomer**

**Lol**

**Yeh tho**

**Notice all that tagging**

**Notification absolutely fecked**

**Same**

**So**

**What game do you have in mind?**

**Gonna have to find something easy for you, I imagine**

**Nice excuse for yourself**

* * *

Daniel hides a groan, waiting for the credit screen to at least finishes and the stream redirecting to Monty before stopping his own. He stretches on his seat, and there’s a small crack as he finally moves in the last 4 hours or so. Jesus fucking Christ.

“You good over there?” Kevin asks, and he’s clearly tired from the portal stream too. 

He hums, nodding before remembering Kevin can’t see him and clears his throat. “Yeah, just tired.”

“That’s longer than I planned to do tonight, yep.” 

He looks at the clock, and groans. “Why didn’t you stop me when we went past 11?”

“Why didn’t you?” Kevin fires back, chuckling. “Out of the two of us, you’re the responsible one here.”

“Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess,” He answers, and Kevin pauses. There’s a second of silence where none of them said anything, until Kevin let out an amused noise, the sheer smugness of it somehow getting translated over his voice.

“You did have fun hanging out with me after all,” Kevin continues, and there’s another small burst of laughter, and Daniel grits his teeth. “Not very good at this, are you?”

“No, I don’t usually go out of my way to make other people’s lives harder, unlike someone.”

“Oh come on, that’s my livelihood you’re insulting there. Does all of the roleplay videos mean nothing to you?”

“What roleplay videos?” He teases back, and Kevin huffs. “As if I actually watch your channel.”

“Sure sure, whatever helps you sleep at night...Which we should probably do now.”

“Probably,” He agrees, then adds “It was actually fun, playing with you.”

“That means I must be doing something wrong,” Kevin shots back, not missing a beat. “But thanks, and same.”

“Night,” He awkwardly says, and before Kevin can even reply he exits voice call. It still feels great to do that, and he can almost picture Kevin’s reaction. Almost.

* * *

The video does great, as expected. If he thought the stream reaction to Kevin and him collabing was amazing, then the Youtube side of his fans are just going feral in the comments. He only has time to scroll through it for a bit before editing videos pulled him back, but the support is just- It’s overwhelming. 

He checks over Kevin’s video too, noting which parts did he decided to put in and having a fun time rewatching the stream from a different point of view. Daniel can’t deny what the comments are pointing out: They do have this weird dynamic together. Sure, the dynamic is basically Kevin being a troll as much as he can without stepping over the line and Daniel doing the same thing, just not as effective because he still has to range in the chat, but he’ll take that compliment.

Plus, he has to admit, it was fun last night. All apparently rivalry aside (yes, he’s still not over the Starbuck thing, thank you very much) Kevin’s a rather chill guy when he isn’t busy being a bitch in video games-

**Hey RT**

**RT**

**RT**

**Dan**

**Daaaaan**

**Daniel**

**Daniel Condren **

**Can’t believe I have to google you for your full name**

**But Dan**

**Hey **

-And also being a bitch in the DM.

**What?**

**Morning**

**Is that all you have to say?**

**Yep**

**Morning**

**Lovely weather we’re having**

**Reminds me of you lol**

**It’s raining**

**So it is**

**What’s that supposed to be?**

**Whatever you want it to be **

**Lol**

He’s tempted to click off Twitter now, but Kevin’s still typing and he waits for a moment as the little bubble pops up, the three dots displaying on his screen. Daniel waits for a moment, and then another, and Jesus how slow can Kevin type? The guy just sent like a dozen messages calling him and blowing up his notification, he can’t be taking that slow.

**Anyway**

**Are you up for another stream soon?**

**Not like, today or sth but sometimes in the near future**

**Sure**

**Hmu whenever you’re free really**

**🤠**

* * *

He hates that he’s looking forward to another stream with Kevin, but that doesn’t change the fact that he does.

Three streams later, Daniel still hates that he’s looking forward to talking to Kevin. The guy just grow on you like a fucking parasite, huh?

* * *

**Btw**

**Am I forgiven?**

**For what???**

**The drink thing lol**

**And maybe the getting killed repeatedly in games**

**And messing up your flow**

**As if you’re actually sorry about that**

**Ur right**

**Still**

**Twitch con is coming up and that offer for a drink’s still on the table**

**Dk that you’re that desperate to get a drink with me**

**As if lol**

**I just want to prove that I can drink your ass under the table**

**You can certainly try**

**Don’t need to try to win that**

**It will be rather easy**

**You’re fucking on Kevin**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said this will be a weekly update and then missed yesterday? Good time
> 
> Anyway, a really short chapter this time, but the chatting probably makes it seems longer than it actually is so I'll take that. Thanks for giving this a read anyway <3 Also absolutely zero beta and read through, I write this on a school computer with zero care so I hope it's readable

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this in one day, don't kill me if this is a mess! I don't want them to go full out on the hating/enemy bit, so this is a dumb rivalry with Kevin being a little shit and Daniel doing it back and then bonding and relationship growing! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think! And keep an eye out on Wednesday, because this boy is also going to do a short weekly run.
> 
> Also a special thank you to afraidbob for betaing this, you rock <3!


End file.
